Coyotes first-round pick Max Domi could make early mark with team

Max Domi after throwing out the first pitch at a Diamondbacks game. (Kyndra de St. Aubin/Arizona Sports)

The scouting report on Max Domi, whom the Phoenix Coyotes selected with the 12th pick in the 2013 NHL Draft is that he's a very skilled player.

According to MyNHLDraft.com, an NHL source said, "he possesses clearly high-end playmaking abilities. He controls the puck, and he can make quality passes in a multitude of ways: slowing the game from the sideboards, through tight spaces in pressure, or saucers over a defender's stick."

Sounds like a player the offense-starved Coyotes could use immediately, right?

"Our team, obviously, we're talking about trying to upgrade our skill-level on the forward lines and he's a skilled player," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said of Domi. "We'll have a look and see how it goes."

So you're saying there's a chance.

Domi, who is the son of former NHL player Tie Domi, shares a last name with his father but not a playing style. While Tie was an enforcer who tallied far more penalty minutes (3,515) in his career than points (245), Max is exactly what Tippett said he is, skilled.

Domi tallied 39 goals and 48 assists for the London Knights of the OHL last season. Which is why, though he's just 18, he may don a Coyotes sweater sooner rather than later. Saying he's carried a hockey stick around for as long as he can remember, Domi said "he's just here to play hockey."

"Just a guy that likes to go out there and have fun on the ice," Domi said Tuesday. "And make plays out there and score goals.

"Try to contribute offensively but at the same time do whatever really it takes to help the team win, whether that's blocking a shot, winning a face-off; really, whatever it takes."

Of course, Domi is still very, very young, and he understands the players he'll be squaring off against in the NHL are a bit better than those he's used to facing. He said being on the same team as Shane Doan, who just completed his 17th NHL season, gives him first-hand look at what it takes to be a professional.

"He still works hard day in, day out to get better and to stay where he is to be an elite athlete, essentially," he said. "It takes a lot of hard work to get there and even more hard work to stay there. And even more hard work to win."

So, Domi, who said he could stand to improve in all facets of his game, plans on working hard and learning as much as he can during the team's one-week Prospect Development Camp.

Part of that includes getting to be around Tippett, who he called "the best coach in the league."

"I've really watched him along the way; he's got a very good reputation and his attention to detail and doing the little things right is pretty ridiculous, it's the best, and that's what it takes to be the best so you've got to be able to work on that kind of stuff so I can't wait to learn from him.

If Domi learns quickly enough, he may soon be playing for Tippett, too.